


among the pages

by etherealwang



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3racha is there too i had to, Fluff, High School AU, M/M, mentioned changlix, mentioned minsung - Freeform, the other boys are only there a little bit, woochan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-08 00:05:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16418636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etherealwang/pseuds/etherealwang
Summary: in which woojin is socially awkward and shy, and bang chan makes him his friend because no one tells him what to do.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by that picture they uploaded to promote that olympic hall event:  
> Stray Kids UNVEIL [Op.03 : I am YOU] Official Goods Teaser #4
> 
> this thing:  
> https://www.google.com/search?q=stray+kids+official+goods+teaser+4&client=safari&hl=en-us&prmd=sinv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiwm-eH3aTeAhVmr1QKHfs4AXsQ_AUIEygC&biw=375&bih=553#imgrc=faTwU6NMkei-UM

kim woojin. resident nerd at jyp high school. 

it’s not that he tried to be a nerd. he tried everything from switching his hairstyle to changing the way he dressed, but people still saw him as the same nerd he was back in his freshman year. he was never really good at making friends and was a bit shy when it came to those sorts of things, so people just left him alone to study or read in the library. he found comfort in the library, where he could read countless tales of heroes, cool dudes who always saved the day and were loved by everyone. it’s nice to dream about it, he constantly thought, but when someone was as timid and socially inexperienced as he was, it would remain an unattainable fantasy forever.

so it went without saying that the library was kind of woojin’s home away from home, the place where he spent most of his free time at school or when his mom forced him to “go out and socialize and make some friends, woojinnie!” but that was the thing: no matter how hard it was for woojin to make friends, he just couldn’t. everyone saw him as this socially awkward and shy kid, and although once you got to know him, woojin was smart and funny and just a cool teenager to be around, no one really knew that. so he just gave up on making friends and made some inanimate friends of his own. as a result, woojin spent most of his time lost between the shelves of the library, reading anything and everything he found interesting. currently, he was in the back of the library, in the section where most students never came because they never were interested enough to venture that far into the library. he kinda liked it, the quiet and undiscovered place of the library, where it was just him and the tons of books that lived there. 

nose deep in the alchemist, a book full of magic and adventure, woojin didn’t notice the dark figure watching him from across the aisle, a book hanging from his ringed fingers. 

“oi mate,” a foreign voice called in english, piercing woojin’s ears and bringing him back to the real world. woojin whipped his head up towards the source of the noise. he was well-read enough to know the accent was australian, but what an australian kid was doing in a korean high school was beyond him. the stranger walked towards him, book still in hand. his hair had a slight green tint to it, and the waterline of his eyes had black eyeliner swiped across them, with a little more eyeliner swiped on the lids. he wore an oversized denim jacket over a long, untucked dress shirt and a navy blue and orange tie. his shoes looked expensive, and probably were, judging by the way they looked almost like jordans or some other sports brand (woojin couldn’t tell; after all he was more of a book guy). his ears were pierced with little silver hoops hanging from them, and his fingers were littered with shiny rings. he stopped in front of woojin, looking him up and down, which made woojin nervous. he didn’t look too bad, wearing a blue shirt under a white jacket zipped up a little from the bottom, but still mostly showing the bright blue under, both tucked into khaki pants. he was wearing just regular sneakers that looked very dull in comparison to the stranger’s. the boy looked at woojin for a few seconds before looking up at his face decidedly. he stretched his hand out in offering to woojin. 

“i’m christopher bang. korean name, bang chan. i go by chan. who are you?” he asked. woojin, still a little flustered from this sudden social interaction, just stared at his outstretched hand, to which chan took woojin’s hand from his side and shook it, bringing woojin slightly out of his stupor. 

“uh, i’m, uh, kim woojin,” woojin managed to get out. the boy nodded approvingly. 

“i’m new here, just came from overseas. i haven’t been here that long, but people told me that you were the nerd of the school and that i should just leave you alone. but i’m bang freaking chan, and no one tells me what to do, so here i am.” he was looking directly at woojin while he said this, almost asserting himself to be this dominant figure. and who was woojin to disagree? he certainly would never dare to. 

“so, i’m here to make friends with you,” chan said, “because people told me i couldn’t. so now we’re friends.” woojin looked at him confused. chan grabbed him by the arm and begin to pull him away from the aisle. 

“c’mon woojinnie, let’s go grab lunch, i’m starving!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! thanks for reading! i’m going to update with some more chapters, but it’s only going to be about 3-5 in total. upload schedule is gonna be crazy, because it’s just gonna be whenever i have time, which is hard when you go to college. anyways thanks again and see ya at the next chapter! ;)


	2. Chapter 2

the next week was probably the most social woojin had ever been in his whole life. chan began to wait for him by the school gates every morning without fail, and walk into school with him, always having some crazy story to tell him about australia or just hitting woojin with question after question, trying to coax SOMETHING out about the quiet boy. sometimes woojin would provide a short answer, but usually he nodded or shook his head at chan’s questions. the other didn’t seem to mind these limited answers, and actually saw it as progress from the previously timid boy he had saw in the library. 

much to woojin’s surprise, chan was also in his class. and the teacher sat him next to him. chan smiled this huge goofy grin at him while he opened his mouth to say:

“pretty cool coincidence, huh?”

“for you,” woojin mumbled under his breath. chan reached over and put his arm over woojin’s shoulders.

“woojinnie, i know you can’t even possibly begin to express your excitement, what with those limited emotions of yours.” woojin started to protest but chan cut him off with, “but that’s okay, i know you’re THRILLED on the inside that we’re deskmates!”

“aren’t i older than you? stop calling me woojinnie.” woojin stared at his paper while he said this. chan looked at him, an innocent look in his eyes. 

“but woojinnie, i’m a foreigner! i couldn’t have already picked up the honorifics system-thingy yet!” chan was putting emphasis on every other word, trying to act serious, but his giant dimpled grin gave him away. 

so in class, chan was constantly poking at woojin, whispering comments about everything in class, and asking questions as a result because he missed what the teacher was saying. woojin had to admit, some of the things chan would say were funny, and would provoke a tiny smile out of woojin as he scribbled at his notes. chan would notice this, and not say anything, but anyone could tell he would have a mental celebration anytime this happened. 

lunch was even more socially exhausting for woojin. chan, being the social butterfly he was, had already recruited seven other boys as their friends. there were the two couples, felix and changbin, and minho and jisung. felix was also australian, but his korean was kind of basic, but even then he was so charismatic that it made up for it, and he always had the other boys dying of laughter. jisung and changbin were starting a rap duo team, which quickly turned into a trio when chan rapped eminem’s alphabet aerobics without missing a beat. the three were trying to come up with a group name, all of which contained some kind of pun because all three of them were what woojin was pretty sure was generally classified as “crackheads.” in addition to the couples, there were also three others: jeongin, seungmin, and hyunjin. they were all really quiet at first, which woojin was thankful for, but they started to open up too, being loud and weird along with the others. jeongin had this weird thing for trot music, and he would simultaneously sing AND dance to it, much to woojin’s embarrassment, in the middle of the cafeteria, with the other boys whooping and cheering him on. hyunjin was a really good dancer, and hit it off with minho quickly, who was the coordinator of the dance team. seungmin was really obsessed with a band called day6, and somehow managed to rope the rest of the boys into the fandom too. any spare time he had was spent running a fan page on twitter, but he usually was the one in the group laughing the hardest amongst all the boys. 

as much as woojin wanted to hate this newfound social group interaction, he couldn’t. everyone was just so nice and friendly, and they didn’t laugh or stare at him weirdly when he got tripped up over his words or was awkward; they just waited patiently, nodding him on, and providing the best reactions to what he had to say. it was a very warm group to be around, and he felt this sense of familial warmth that he hadn’t felt at all before. needless to say, woojin was having such a good time everyday, and it was all thanks to chan.

oh, chan.

woojin didn’t know what it was about chan, but he loved it. every time he would get excited, his eyes sparkled, his dimples appearing as a huge smile spread across his cheeks. his eyes would form little crescent moons when he laughed. his LAUGH. his laugh was basically enough to cure cancer, woojin thought. it was the cutest thing woojin had ever heard in his entire life. 

but wait. 

what was this feeling that woojin had? his heart beated fast every morning before he turned the corner to get to school, wondering if chan was waiting again for him. obviously he was, and woojin’s heart would all but leap out of his chest when chan noticed him turning the corner, waving a hand and smiling at woojin. he often found himself thinking of chan when he had a spare moment in class after he’d finish an assignment, and would be more responsive to chan when he talked to him in class, silently giggling with him at the outrageous things chan would say. they spent every moment of every day together, chan following woojin into the library, which woojin pretended to hate, but inwardly celebrated. chan would lay his head on woojin’s shoulder and read what he was reading, or close his eyes and make woojin read aloud to him. he would follow woojin through the aisles, commenting on what books he thought woojin would like or what looked “absolutely boring, what were you even THINKING, woojinnie?!” 

so it could be said that woojin had a little bit of a crush on chan. not that he’d ever tell him, or anyone for that matter. woojin had known he was bi for a while, and he kept it to himself. that was that. and while it crushed him a little to know that chan just thought of him as his good friend, woojin kept going on, opening up to chan a little more each day, getting as close to him as he could get with his limited social skills. 

that would have to be enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i’m thinking i can wrap this up in one more chapter. we shall see. anyways thanks for reading, it really means a lot!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi. 
> 
>  
> 
> it’s been a while BUT it’s done now. 
> 
>  
> 
> enjoy ;)

days turned into weeks, and soon it was winter. everyone had woken up to a fluffy layer of snow on the ground, and it continued to snow lightly throughout the day. woojin liked the snow, watching as small flakes slowly made their descent from the sky down to the ground. he would take off a glove and hold his bare hand out to collect some flakes, watching them slowly melt from the heat of his hands. the snow made everything look so soft, so pure. 

currently he was waiting for chan outside of the math building, chan being inside to actually ask a question about the homework. as much as chan had changed woojin, woojin had also changed chan. he was a little more diligent and attentive in class and made sure to do his homework before getting up to his crazy antics or going out to hang with jisung and changbin, or what was now known as 3RACHA. the three thought they were geniuses for coming up with such a punny name, but woojin internally facepalmed every time someone said it. but then again, if it made chan smile that gorgeous smile of his, woojin was down to hear whatever puns came out of chan’s mouth.

woojin was so immersed in his thoughts and watching the tiny snowflakes melt into his hand that he didn’t notice when chan came out of the building, and jumped when chan grabbed his outstretched hand and started running, tugging woojin along with him. he looked back at woojin, smiling cutely from ear to ear as he ran. woojin, who was still kind of shocked, couldn’t even process what was happening as chan’s huge, warm gloved hand enveloped his slender, cold hand in a tight grip. woojin could feel himself getting warm too, and it wasn’t because of the warmth of the gloves. finally, chan stopped in front of the library, taking his hand out of woojin’s to open the door with a dramatic gesture, ushering him in like a palace guard would to a royal. woojin, cheeks pink (from the cold or from the gesture, he would never tell), shyly shuffled into the library, chan following. he took off his beanie and dusted the snow off before placing it back on his head. chan, on the other head, just shook his head to get rid of all the snow in his hair, looking like a cute puppy, especially now that the green dye had faded a little to leave him with a pale blonde look. it took all of woojin’s self-control not to freak out over how cute he looked, and instead adjusted his red scarf, pulling it up to cover his chin as he began to walk towards the back of the library, taking off his other glove and placing it with its twin in the pocket of his jacket. chan quickly followed behind him. 

woojin walked along the aisles, skimming for any books he hadn’t read before. there, on a higher shelf, was a book that he couldn’t quite reach, even when he stood on his toes. after a few seconds of struggling, a warm weight pressed up on him from behind, and a ringed hand grabbed the book woojin was aiming for. woojin reddened as he turned to face chan hovering over his body, a few inches away from woojin, smirking. in one hand, he held the book, and the other was rested on the bookshelf next to woojin. woojin looked at chan, the boy’s chocolate brown eyes looking right back at him. for some reason, even though woojin’s internal self was screaming at him to look away, he couldn’t take his gaze away. looking at chan from this close was probably not gonna happen again, so he might as well soak it in as much as he could. chan’s eyes widened amusedly as woojin continued to stare at him, and much to woojin’s surprise he started to lean in a little. was this it, was he going to finally kiss him?

but a few inches from his face, chan stopped, leaving woojin more impatient than confused. 

so he took matters into his own hands, and also chan’s cheeks into his hands as he pulled him close and closed the gap in between them. 

woojin knew that it would be amazing to kiss chan, but he didn’t know it would be to this extent. both of their lips were a little chapped from the cold, but they molded together perfectly. chan kissed him back softly, causing woojin to let a little sigh out. it was perfect, his first kiss. 

after a few seconds, they pulled apart, woojin’s hands still on chan’s face and his eyes still focused on chan’s eyes. when he realized this he quickly returned his hands to his sides and looked down, which made chan’s amused smirk return. he saw chan’s hand appear in his field of vision...

 

...to pick off a stray chunk of clumped together snowflakes (surprisingly still intact) from his red scarf. 

 

woojin immediately turned the shade of his scarf as he realized what chan had actually leaned in to do. chan started to laugh at woojin’s red and startled face. his hands came up to woojin’s chin and pulled it up softly to make woojin look at him. 

“are you embarrassed, woojinnie?” chan said in between giggles that he tried to stop from coming out. “why?”

woojin just continued to look at chan, his brain and mouth unable to form words to say. he was still flustered from the kiss and now from the misunderstanding and exposing himself. 

“woojin.” chan said his name normally, without anything extra. “earth to woojinnie! did i lose you?” he smirked YET AGAIN (woojin was literally on the brink of death from all this smirking).

“ahhh, did i kiss all the words out of you?” chan asked, acting all innocent. “i was just trying to get that little piece of snow off of your scarf, but, you see, i was attacked and i couldn’t help myself.” chan’s smile had traveled to his eyes now. he leaned in close again.

“maybe i should kiss you again to bring the words back.” 

and with that his lips were on woojin’s again, kissing him as if they had all the time in the world. woojin was caught a little off guard, but soon kissed chan back, the two bodies pressed against each other in the quiet seclusion of the library. finally, chan pulled back, resting his forehead on woojin’s, both of their eyes still closed. 

“i-i like you, chan,” woojin spoke softly and quietly, and if chan wasn’t that close to him, he wouldn’t have heard. 

“i like you, too, woojinnie. a lot. i’ve liked you since i saw you in the library that first time,” chan whispered back. “would you be my boyfriend?” 

woojin nodded. “gladly,” he said as his mouth formed an adorable smile. “i’m yours.”

chan’s hand traveled down to squeeze woojin’s. “and i’m yours. always and forever.” he looked down at their interlocked hands. 

“and i’m never letting go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading!!! <3


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